1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an object monitoring system and method. More particularly, this invention relates to an entry and exit confirmation system and method which utilizes RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology to confirm the entry and exit of a mobile object relative to the entrance of a passageway in an underground environment by processing the entering-state and exiting-state data of the mobile object.
2. Related Art
Object tracking and monitoring technology is now widely applied in industries and to people's lives. An example of the circumstances for applying the technology is the mining industry where mineworkers normally carry out the mining operation underground. The underground mining operations typically require the workers to travel within a complex arrangement of underground passageways in the mine. A large amount of underground passageways connect with each to form a complex network for providing commuting channels for the workers and conveying ores to the surface cites. Generally, the workers are spread at different locations in the passageways after they have entered the mine, and are instructed to exit the mine, for example, at the end of a working day or under emergencies. Thus, in order to improve the safety, it is necessary to guarantee that all the workers in the mine have successfully exited the mine or the workers in a specific passageway have successfully exited the passageway.
In addition, due to the complicated and unpredictable geological and geographic conditions, catastrophic event may happen locally or globally within the mine. For example, the density of a poisonous gas may reach a lethal level after an area of a coalmine has been exploited to a certain degree, under which condition all the workers must be evacuated from the underground passageways and ultimately exit the mine. Another example is that a local cave-in occurs and some of the workers are trapped in the underground passageways, under which condition all the other workers must be evacuated and rescue efforts must implemented immediately. The rescue would be greatly expedited if the information of whether the workers have exited the mine and/or a specific underground passageway is known in advance.
Therefore, it would be very advantageous to confirm the entry and/or exit of a mineworker relative to the entrance of the mine or the entrance of a specific underground passageway.